Celtics Notebook: Bradley still shouldering some pain

It was about one year ago that Celtics guard Avery Bradley began what was going to be a very painful and frustrating battle with his shoulders.

By Scott Souza/Daily News staff

Milford Daily News

By Scott Souza/Daily News staff

Posted Apr. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 6, 2013 at 6:04 AM

By Scott Souza/Daily News staff

Posted Apr. 6, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 6, 2013 at 6:04 AM

BOSTON

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It was about one year ago that Celtics guard Avery Bradley began what was going to be a very painful and frustrating battle with his shoulders.

At first, it was more an annoyance. One would pop out of its socket, and quickly pop back into place. Much of the early trouble happened during practice when even teammates and team medical staff didn’t always know anything was amiss.

But then the dislocations became more frequent and the numbing aftermath of fixing them because more arduous. Finally, after repeated shoulder issues throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs, his agents, family and the team stepped in to protect him from himself, and prescribed season-ending double shoulder surgery.

While he returned to the court in December, he was never under any illusions about what the rest of this season would be like.

"They told me, ‘it’s your shoulders,’ and you know you’re shoulders are going to take a while to get back strong," he said before Friday’s game against the Cavaliers at TD Garden. "I still do stuff (to strengthen them) every single day. Do the exercises. I get treatment if I need it."

Still, sometimes during a game, a practice, or when he wakes up with a wince in the middle of the night, he realizes the doctors were right about the extended timetable for a full recovery.

"No, it’s still not (all the way back)," he said. "I can feel it when I sleep at night. It’s going to take a while. They said it’s going to take at least a year for me to feel good again."

Bradley suffered another brief scare late in Friday's game when he took an elbow to the shoulder area from Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving on a screen and headed back to the locker room with trainer Ed Lacerte. But Bradley soon returned to the bench, and later said it was a collarbone bruise, and not related to the shoulder at all.

"I'm fine," he assured.

Despite the lingering weakness and discomfort, Bradley has been critical to Boston’s playoff push this season – especially after the team lost All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo to a torn anterior cruciate ligament on Jan. 26. His return to action on Jan. 2 has coincided with the team going from 24th in the NBA in defense early in the year to fifth in shooting percentage allowed going into Friday night’s game.

"That’s the hardest part," he said of playing defense through shoulder pain. "But you just can’t think about it. On the defensive end, people are going to run into you, you’re going to get screened the whole game."

While Bradley hasn’t skipped a beat on defense since his return, his offense has not been what it was last year. After shooting 49.8 percent in his second year, he was down to 40.5 percent this year entering Friday’s game. But he’s shown signs of pulling out of that slump of late as he averaged 15.0 points and 59.1 percent shooting over the previous two games before a 3-for-12 showing on Friday.

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"Honest to gosh, I think it was a case for him where he needed to see the ball go in," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "Clearly, the arc on his shot is back. But it didn’t matter if you told him he needed arc on his shot because when you’re struggling you don’t see anything. You’re going too fast, putting tons of pressure on yourself. Then in the Minnesota game (on Monday) a couple went in for him and now he feels good about it again. It’s as simple as that."

Bradley agreed.

"I’ve just been working on my shot on the off days, taking my time, getting my confidence back," he said. "My teammates have been helping me out a lot, telling me to keep shooting.

Rivers said he expected Paul Pierce will be back for Sunday’s game vs. the Wizards after Pierce sat Friday with a sore ankle. Pierce missed Thursday’s practice, saying before the workout he probably would not have played had there been a game that night. …

Rivers said Kevin Garnett ran through the "skeleton" offense during Friday’s walkthrough, but would not commit to him playing Sunday. … The Celtics were to present the Red Auerbach Award to the player "who best exemplifies what it means to be a true Celtic" on Friday, but postponed the ceremony shortly before the game.

Scott Souza can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com. Follow him on Twitter @scott_souza.